• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

New Schizophrenia Risk Genes Identified By Largest Study Of Its Kind

March 20, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

A new study has discovered a previously unknown link between two genes and schizophrenia, while also showing that a third gene may be linked to autism. This is the largest study of its kind, which also revealed how schizophrenia risk is conferred across ethnicities. The implications could be important for our understanding of brain disease and may lead to new treatments. 

The research was led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and is the first known study to investigate the risk of schizophrenia in different groups of people, especially among people of African descent. The results show that unusual harmful variations in gene proteins raise the risk of the mental condition in all ethnic groups.  

Advertisement

Schizophrenia is a mental condition that affects how an individual thinks, feels, and behaves. Sometimes described as a type of psychosis, its symptoms include hearing or seeing things that are not there, disordered thinking and behavior, delusional beliefs, and a loss of motivation and interest in activities. Given the nature of these symptoms, it can be difficult for a person with schizophrenia to participate in social or everyday activities, which can be distressing for them and those around them.  

The condition is usually diagnosed between the ages of 16 and 30, and affects around 1 in 300 people. Despite ideas made popular in the 20th century, most people with schizophrenia are not violent, nor does the condition involve having a split personality. For most patients, it can be managed with treatment, though existing medication does not always work for everyone.  

It is not clear exactly what causes a person to develop schizophrenia, but it is assumed that several factors, including environmental, genetic, and structural changes in the brain, play a part.  

The new research, however, found that two genes – SRRM2 and AKAP11 – are implicated as risk genes for the disorder. They were discovered by comparing the gene sequences of people with the condition with those of a control population, especially those with African ancestry. The meta-analysis, an assessment of previous research, involved existing datasets for up to 35,828 cases and 107,877 control participants.  

Advertisement

This work builds on recent research that found 10 risk genes harboring more protein-truncating variants (PTVs) among schizophrenic patients. PTVs shorten the coding sequence of genes and have a large impact on their function. However, the study – and most others – focused exclusively on European populations, even though schizophrenia is common across the world.   

“By focusing on a subset of genes, we discovered rare damaging variants that could potentially lead to new medicines for schizophrenia,” Dr Dongjing Liu, lead author, said in a statement.  

“Also significant: studying people of various ancestral backgrounds, we found that rare damaging variants in evolutionarily constrained genes confer a similar magnitude of schizophrenia risk among those different populations and that genetic factors previously established in predominantly white people have now been extended to non-whites for this debilitating disease.” 

The team also identified a third gene, PCLO, already known to be linked to schizophrenia, but is now known as having a shared risk for schizophrenia and autism. The findings raise more questions about the genetic overlap between psychiatric disorders.  

Advertisement

“It’s been known that there are genetic components shared among illnesses”, Dr Alexander W. Charney, co-senior corresponding author of the study, added.  

“Clinically, genes could look different in the same family. The same variant in the same family may cause autism in one family member and schizophrenia in another. The idea of the same gene having different manifestations is very interesting to us, as it could be useful when it comes to treating people in the clinic.” 

The researchers have cautioned that not every patient with schizophrenia has a rare damaging variant gene, as the causes of the disorder are so multifaceted.  

From here, the researchers hope to assess whether and how these risk genes may have a clinical role and if they are tied to a specific behavior or symptom of schizophrenia. They will also look to identify drugs that may target the newly identified genes.  

Advertisement

The study was published in Nature Genetics.  

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Geely’s Volvo Cars warns on sales as supply woes dent output
  2. France says Biden acted like Trump to sink Australia defence deal
  3. G7 finance ministers make some progress on tax deal, UK says
  4. UTIs Are Still Diagnosed Using A 140-Year-Old Method – Here’s Why

Source Link: New Schizophrenia Risk Genes Identified By Largest Study Of Its Kind

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • “Nobody Expected This”: Earth’s Rotation Will Speed Up Tomorrow, Bucking The Downward Trend
  • Chimps Are Sticking Grass In Their Ears And Rears As They Embrace “Pointless” Fad
  • Hui Te Rangiora: Old Māori Legend Suggests They May Have Discovered Antarctica 1,000 Years Before Europeans
  • “Potential Impact On Saturn”: Astronomers Appeal For Help As Video Appears To Show Object Hitting The Gas Giant
  • What Is Prosopometamorphopsia? The “Exceedingly Rare” Condition That Made A Patient See Faces As Dragons
  • Are We In An Enormous Void? It Could Explain What’s Wrong With Our Model Of The Universe
  • Woylies Boing Back Into Western Australia Thanks To Groundbreaking Wildlife Project
  • North America’s Oldest Pterosaur And Turtle Fossils Found In Arizona’s Petrified Forest
  • Proposed “Dark Dwarfs” Near The Galactic Center Could Reveal The Nature Of Dark Matter
  • Watch: 18-Kilometer-High Ash Cloud Looms Over Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki After “Explosive” Eruption
  • “ShipGoo001”: Mystery Of Entirely New Lifeform Discovered Coating A Great Lakes Ship
  • Rare White Humpback Whale Calf Filmed By Drone Off Australia’s East Coast
  • Who Was Buried At Cave Of Salome: A Female Disciple, Jesus’ Midwife, Or A Princess?
  • “Hidden” Changes To US Health Data Swapping “Gender” For “Sex” Spark Fears For Public Trust
  • Easter Island Was Never As Isolated As We Thought – Study Puts That “Strange Argument” To Bed
  • If Birds Are Dinosaurs, Why Are None As Big As T. Rexes?
  • Psychologists Demonstrate Illusion That Could Be Screwing Up Our Perception Of Time
  • Why Are So Many Enormous Roman Shoes Being Discovered At Hadrian’s Wall?
  • Scientists Think They’ve Pinpointed Structural Differences In Psychopaths’ Brains
  • We’ve Found Our Third-Ever Interstellar Visitor, Orcas Filmed Kissing (With Tongues) In The Wild, And Much More This Week
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version